9. The Galapagos Deep-Sea Cat Shark

As more and more shark species teeter at the edge of extinction, it’s nice to know that nature can keep turning out new models—or at least ones that have never been seen before. The newest, credited to researchers at the California Academy of Sciences, is the foot-long, bottom-dwelling, chocolate-brown catshark from the waters around the Galapagos. The sharks are decorated with a scattering of white dots that, like human fingerprints, seem to be unique to the individual. Unlike its larger and more conspicuous kin, the new catshark appears to be in little threat of vanishing. A good thing for both the species itself and the other animals in the food web which, whether they’d admit it or not, need a top predator to keep things in order.